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Residents and advocates urge review of Marty's Place after alleged harassment and eviction notices
Summary
Residents of Marty's Place and advocates asked the Health Commission to review public funding and alleged harassment by Dolores Street Community Services (Mission Action), saying the cooperative—housing long‑term survivors with HIV—faces eviction threats and disputed accounting.
Several residents and advocates used the commission's public comment period Dec. 3 to call for scrutiny of how public funds are used at Marty's Place, a long‑standing low‑income housing cooperative for people living with HIV.
Paul Aguilar, who identified himself as a Marty's Place resident, described what he termed "a campaign of harassment starting with eviction notices" by the organization formerly known as Dolores Street Community Services (now calling itself Mission Action). Aguilar said public dollars appear to be supporting actions that could displace residents and urged the commission to "look into the use of these public funds" to ensure they are not used to displace the people the organization claims to support.
Vincent Crisostomo, chair of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Caucus' HIV Caucus, said Marty's Place honors the city's AIDS history and argued it would be "appalling" for a city‑funded manager to pursue evictions of residents who are older and on fixed incomes. He asked the commission and other city bodies to delay any eviction‑related actions and to intervene where appropriate; he cited two dates affecting residents (Dec. 13 and Dec. 24) and urged additional time so residents can plan.
A resident and advocate, Michael Rupert, urged an audit and greater accounting transparency, saying there is "a fairly substantial large sum in dispute" and asking that the item be referred to the finance committee. Several commenters framed housing as health care for people living with HIV and stressed the potential harm of displacing older residents.
The comments were made during the general public comment period; commissioners acknowledged receipt of the concerns and staff noted written comments would also be reviewed. No formal action was taken at the meeting; commissioners and staff said they would review submitted materials and consider next steps, including possible referral to the finance and planning committee.
